After a person becomes a Christian, the next most important step is to ascertain the will of God for his life. The most vital question for a Christian is, “What is the will of God for my life?” The Christian is not only asked to know the will of God, but he is commanded to know the will of God for his life. 'Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ' Ephesians 5:17
Paul had stayed for 3yrs In Ephesus and was about to leave to Jerusalem, there were many people of God who advised Paul not to travel Jerusalem.
When you read Acts 21:1-14, we may feel Paul was doing against the Will of God. But truly speaking Paul was doing according to the will of God.
Before we deep dive on what Paul actions were and how he got directed to do the will of God. Let’s understand the will of God from various Bible Scholars which I learnt, there are four essential things on will of God that Christian’s need to know.
1. The Secret Will of God
2. The Revealed Will of God
3. The Permissive Will of God
4. The Directive Will of God
The Secret will of God
The secret will of God flows out of God’s sovereignty and includes what he planned for us from Birth till eternity. The secret will be known only to God and not to man.
'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.' Deuteronomy 29:29
It is important to know that God has a secret will, it gives the Christian confidence that God has a plan for each Christian individually.
The Revealed Will of God
The revealed will of God refers to the commands of Scripture. It deals with what God desires for the Christian to do and with what the Christian ought to do according to God’s revelation in the Bible.
The revealed will is never done perfectly by the Christian but its God highest standard that he expects us to do.
For Example, if God had asked you to pray about a situation thru his word - 'pray continually, '1 Thessalonians 5:17, you pray about this for one day and the world priorities takes over things and you forget praying for that.
If a Christian fails to keep the revealed will of God, then he must pay the consequences for his disobedience.
The Permissive Will of God
The permissive will of God is a theological way of explaining how nothing can happen outside of God’s secret will, and yet God is not responsible for sin. Human sin falls under the permissive will of God.
It is related to those responsible actions of men which God passively allows, and yet He still has control over them.
The permissive will of God deals with the negative aspects of God’s secret will.
For Example. you wanted to buy a property and you pray to seek God’s will and there will be struggles if it’s not his will. But our human desires override God’s will and blame’s that the struggles are coming from Satan, after doing this you will be led to a point of failure, in this God will show you the mistakes of life and after your repentance, God will rescue you out of the situation with his mercies.
The Directive Will of God
The directive will of God deals with those things God is actively and deliberately directing in his secret will. It is related to the positive aspects of the secret will of God. God’s directive will be there to know that his presence / experience is leading this thru.
How Is the Directive Will of God Determined?
Primary Methods. There are five primary methods for determining the directive will of God.
Bible - The Bible is the first and primary source for determining God's directive will. One must know the commands and principles of Scripture and apply these to one's experience. It is never the will of God to do anything if it is contrary to any biblical command or principle.
Prayer - One must pray honestly for God's will over any matter, making it known to God that he is willing and ready to do anything God reveals to him. If a person is not open and honest before God in prayer, then he will never know the directive will of God.
Fellowship - It is important that a Christian should be in fellowship with Christ every day. Where we are and what we are to do are not nearly so important as what we are to God. He wants us to be always constantly in fellowship with Christ no matter what the circumstances may be.
Common Sense - A Christian must use all his God-given natural ability in studying all factors in finding the will of God. However, all reasoning must be directed by biblical principles and guided in prayers, for the mind is still tainted by sin and the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.
Conviction - Quite often the Holy Spirit gives a strong conviction which cannot be shaken. It is the still small voice of God speaking to the conscience that we are to do something for Him. The inner witness of the Spirit is a reality for every Christian in fellowship with his Lord.
Secondary Methods – There are three secondary methods of determining the directive will of God.
Circumstances - God may lead by opening and closing doors (Col. 4:3). The Christian should pray, “If this is not your will, Lord. then shut every door, no matter what it may cost me personally."
Counsel - It is always wise to seek out the counsel of another Christian or Christians to talk over the matter (Prov. 15:22). The counsel may be rejected, but it is good to get wisdom from older, more mature Christians. The facts, or the clarification of facts, may come through a counsellor, but the leading must come from the Lord. To reject the advice of a counsellor is not always wrong, especially if a person has a strong conviction from the Lord that he is to do something.
Peace - If God is in some move, He will give a peace which passes all human understanding (Col. 3:15). A person should pray until he has divine peace. He may be afraid emotionally of the situation but may have peace that he is doing the right thing
Now let’s turn to Paul’s situation, to understand how Paul was directed to the will of God, this will clear the misunderstanding we may have where Paul acted against the will of God.
In the beginning when Lord chose Paul, God revels his Secretive will to Anaina’s, this is the secretive will of God it’s not known to Paul
'But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” ' Acts 9:15-16
Read Acts 21:1-14 slowly as you read this 6-spiritual lesson, so that God may move you powerfully to understand this and apply in your life.
1. 'After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 'Acts 21:1,
Revealed Will (love for Brethren) - Paul had a deep love for the Ephesus church. He stayed there to build that for 3 yrs., leaving them was an experience to tear and go away to do the will of God, He could have stayed there comfortably to say there is a lot of loveable people around, I will continue to do his ministry in here. But the will of God was so deep he had to break away from the love of Brethren to obey his conviction of God’s will.
2. 'We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home. 'Acts 21:4-6
Directive will (Prayer, fellowship / Conviction in Action) - Paul was not like a tourist to seek the beauty of place, he sought the local church and Christian’s as that’s what he was alighted to sovereign will of God, he put God as his life’s priority than anything, he did fellowship, that strengthen the will of God in prayer. After praying “Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem” he still wanted to go to Jerusalem as he had a strong Conviction of God’s will.
3. 'We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. ‘ Acts 21:7-9
Directive will (peace and fellowship in Action) Paul met with Philip the evangelist who was referred in Acts 8 after 20 yrs. he had four daughters who had the spirit of prophesy, but none of them gave any prophetic word to Paul. Paul found peace thru fellowship with Philip. He had to stay only for 1 day.
4. 'After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ” ' Acts 21:10-11
Directive will (Council, common sense / conviction in Action ) - Agabus advices so visually to convince Paul of the danger lying ahead and strong urged against going to Jerusalem, Agabus was not some ordinary man, he had righty predicted things of famine AD 56 and it had happen, I am sure Paul would have known that, but still his conviction was to go to Jerusalem to full fill God’s will. Paul’s common sense was convinced by the spirit to disregard the council he was given. Many times, we are also confronted with this type of situation, but Paul had this directive only as he was in constant prayer with Lord that the spirit had convinced him to do the will of God, hence he disregarded the council.
5. 'When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ' Acts 21:12-13
Directive will (Circumstance, peace, conviction in action) - Paul words “breaking my heart” literally mean “softening my will.” Their weeping weakened Paul emotionally almost causing him to break his resolve to go to Jerusalem. Their pleadings distracted Paul's mind from what he knew to be the revealed will of God for him '“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ' Acts 20:22-23, it’s the same as God’s secretive will revealed to anginas in Acts 9:15-16
Paul would not yield to their pleadings (circumstance) . He had to follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit in his own life. His mind was fixed on going to Jerusalem and he felt he was prepared for whatever awaited him.
6. 'When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. ' Acts 21:14-15
Directive will (conviction) to yield to Secret will of God - Since he could not be persuaded, they fell silent, 'When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” – When his Christian friends realized that Paul was resolved to go to Jerusalem, they were assured that he was in the will of God after this they said, “The Lord's will be done,” they were referring to the secret, sovereign will of God. They were now ready to submit to God's secret will for Paul's life no matter what the personal loss to them.
Paul was so much convicted by the spirit to go to Jerusalem Acts 20:22-23. As God’s secretive will was to use Paul to proclaim the name of God to Kings and people of Earth. Acts 9:15-16
Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
If you read Acts 22-24, he was arrested in Jerusalem and travels to Rome to proclaim the word of God to Kings and his suffering in this journey. The will of God was fulfilled exactly like what Lord spoke to Ananas.
Conclusion - I am not sure what you’re going thru in your life. Apply these spiritual principles to your lives to understand the will of God. Do this as a practice every day to see any of your daily actions you do are part of directive will of God to be assured your walking in the right path of God’s will. Also, it provides us a chance not to do the Permissive will of God
Comentários